My 3D EQ Fan-art

[toddfx]

**UPDATED 12/20/2012: Lots of new images on page 15**
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Original Post:

I'm a 3D artist by trade and by hobby, and have recently been obsessed with capturing scenes from Everquest with a little extra twist to them. To make my life easier, I have recruited the help of a piece of software called "3D Ripper DX" which monitors the graphics card and captures any 3D geometry and bitmap images that are sent through. From there I can load the fully texture mapped scenes up in 3D Studio Max and go to work on them.

My goal for these images was to bring a semi-realistic feel to the Norrath we all know and love so much. The realm contains some truly beautiful scenes, and I am curious to see what they might look like when taken to the next level of CG. I wanted to see how good of a result I could get using the painfully fragmented geometry and miniature sized textures used in the game.

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Sadly due to the nature of the game quality models and textures, I was not able to get these to a point of perfection. I could only sit in After Effects and tweak the composite for so long before I had to just throw in the towel and call them finished. There's only so much you can do with the game's assets, and I unfortunately don't have time for a total ground up re-build.

For any of you who dabble in the art of 3D, here are a few technical notes. Most of EQ's textures are 64x64 or 128x128, and the models are of course extremely basic. Any 3D artist will know this is a bold place to start haha. I used CrazyBump to generate displacement and normal maps for the stone and wood, which is absolutely critical to take it out of the video-game look. And then of course the magic of VRay's lighting pushes it closer to real life. I used VRay RT to set up the lighting, which was quite fun [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] I found that atmospheric effects and lens blurs helped to hide some of the imperfections of the geometry.

Anyway, I have enjoyed creating these and am eager to make more. If anybody has any scene suggestions, i'd love to see some screenshots for inspiration. I want to do a forest scene, perhaps like this shot of WC.

EDIT 10/11/10:
Here's a new new render of a fountain in Erudin. I love the vibrant colors in this city, so I really exaggerated that here.
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